Today, we have another Active Premium tutorial exclusively available to Premium members. This week we’re looking at obscuring and revealing a scene; a fundamental user experience found in all sorts of games…

Obscure and Revealing Tips…

One of the simplest game mechanics is to let the player find a hidden object. Games based on this take many forms: Where’s Waldo, Peek-A-Boo, Spot the Difference, Hide and Seek, and of course Hidden Object. In this Premium tutorial, I’ll show you two methods for obscuring a scene so that the player can uncover it later.

Final Result

In the first SWF, click like mad to pop all the balloons. Okay, there’s not a lot of challenge, but imagine doing it against the clock, or with more balloons appearing all the time.

In the second SWF, wipe away the dirt by swiping your mouse over the image. This mechanic was used in Window Washy, one of the first games for the PS2 EyeToy — not to mention in countless scratchcards!

What You’ll Learn

Though the final results are simple, the tutorials themselves cover a lot:

• How to trigger an action once an animation has ended
• The best way to share code between different symbols (note how the balloons look different, but behave the same)
• Which blend mode is best for overlay effects — and what restrictions it has
• The power of BitmapData for manipulating an image’s individual pixels
• How to use any image as a “cookie cutter” to remove shapes from a picture

Each section starts from scratch and builds gradually on what you’ve already learned, with plenty of sample SWFs, screenshots, and code snippets to help you on the way. There are even a number of challenges to inspire you to go even further.

Active Premium Membership

We run a Premium membership system which costs $19 a month which periodically gives members access to extra tutorials, like this one! You’ll also get access to Psd Premium, Vector Premium, Audio Premium, Net Premium, Ae Premium, Cg Premium and Photo Premium too. If you’re a Premium member, you can log in and download the tutorial. If you’re not a member, you can of course join today!

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